Waterloo University / M. Arch. / Concept Design / Cambridge, ON / 2023
Ephemeral Embraces
Selected for publication in UCLA’s POOL and UWSA’s galt. publications
Ephemeral as in fleeting, impermanent and alive
Embraces as in an appreciation and a covering
Garments historically originate from organic fibres harvested from the Earth, however the visual and physical qualities of materials and their origins are not typically foregrounded in modern garment architecture. This research studies the common milkweed plant in situ, as a species on the land, and ex situ, as a harvested fibre, extending traditional ideas of thermal performance to include delight. Architect and researcher Lisa Heschong describes thermal delight in architecture as the joy found in the experience of temperature variation on the skin, which is as applicable to architecture as it is to garment design. The design of a transforming garment made from organic fibres provides contrasting thermal experiences on different parts of the body. Taking inspiration from the biological and morphological transformations of the milkweed plant across seasons, a garment for the human body is designed for thermal delight through visual, tactile, structural, and adaptable encounters.
Through the fabrication of a milkweed fibre-filled garment, this research explores the potential to design for thermal delight through the following parameters: material origin (connection between body and land), material intimacy (visual and tactile pleasure), material warmth (structured warmth), and material adaptability (climatic variation). The garment material and function invite a conversation about the future of envelopes in fashion and architecture mirroring the constant changing environments humans are situated in, more intimately connecting human experience back to the land.
Spring
Spring
Summer
Summer
Autumn
Every autumn, the common milkweed plant provides humans with a beautiful gift in its fruiting pods: the home of its silk fibres. One is immediately drawn to the soft ad warm touch of the milkweed silk fibres. Harvesting the fibres from the land honours the its gifts and allows one to develop a deep and meaningful connection back to the land.
Microscopically, the fibres exhibit a hollow structures thus allowing them to hold still air. This makes the fibres not only an ideal insulator and warm on the body, but also incredibly light. Exhibiting extensive loft, the fibres are able to return to their original shape if deformed.
Additionally, the fibres are hydrophobic, repelling water and showcasing buoyant properties.
The fleeting, ephemeral embrace of the fibres on the land inspired the desire to make a covering that can similarly embrace the human body to feel grounded and connected with the earth. By engaging human senses of sight and touch, one can feel senses of awareness through wearing the garment. The design of the composite material of the garment is inspired by the physical form of the fruiting pods. The outer ridges of the garment resemble the ridges of the pod and are visibly translucent, allowing a direct view of the silk fibres inhabiting every fold. By seeing and feeling the silk fibres and designing pockets of warmth while allowing adaptability of the fibres, a garment embracing the body can allow for love and appreciation of the Earth; its gifts, its species, and its ephemeral qualities.
Making Process
A sectional depth of the composite material is achieved by pleating the silk shell for further manipulation of the outer and lining layers. Pleating Lines then radially follow the center of the garment pattern and provide the basis for the honeycomb smocking stitches. Traditional sewing techniques of blind tucks and honeycomb smocking provide increased warmth in cellular formations and a new home to hold the harvested milkweed silk fibres.
The ability to transform the overall garment provides unique and dynamic thermal experiences to the wearer, ultimately achieving a sensorial presence and a delightful experience on the body. The placement of magnetic clasps allow for the overall garment to transform and provide varying degrees of warmth on different parts of the body. The arm holes open and close and the edges fold in and out, inspired by the ephemeral and transformational qualities of the milkweed plant throughout the seasons.
Material adaptability is achieved through designing a functionally graded composite material to provide the most warmth on the back and neck of the body while the outer edges provide less warmth, by holding fewer fibres. This is achieved through strategically designing the sectional depth of the shell. Soft pleats provide cellular formations to hold fibres.
Surrounding the neck and back are lining and outer layers that both encase milkweed silk fibres in the folds and pleats of the fabric. Both lining and outer layers exhibit soft pleats. Zooming in, to hold the fibres we see that the outer and lining layers are connected through stitch lines that hold the honeycomb in a hidden manner, thus called a blind tuck.
Hard pleats are used to simply provide structure for stitching and hold the fibres in place. Near the edge of the garment, where the clasps open and close, only the outer layer encases milkweed silk fibres while the lining layer simply holds the fibres in place. This provides a visual continuity of the composite material on the outside, while revealing the functionally graded material on the inside, strategically infilling the milkweed silk fibres where the body needs the most warmth.
Lisa Heschong’s theory of thermal delight in architecture speaks to this concept of feeling grounded and present through the experience of varying temperatures on the skin. The designed garment worn as a poncho warms the core. Thermal delight is the natural human desire to experience sensorial temperature variation on the skin. Just as the common milkweed transforms and bends its growth toward the rays of the sun and grows flowers to attracts pollinators, the human skin naturally desires sensorial change.
A mediation is achieved between body and earth, shifting between warm and cold. The body is coldest in between transformations and warmest when the garment is worn as a poncho.
One feels the soft and smooth texture of the milkweed fibres and silk lining shell directly on the skin, becoming like a microclimate of warm embrace.
“The more sensory input we experience, and the more varied the contrasts, the richer is the experience and its associated feelings of delight”
Enveloping the land, the garment embodies an ephemeral vulnerability. A profound exchange with the enveloping Earth. Without hard edges, the garment takes form of the landscape it embraces. With soft and visible fibres, the garment interacts gently with life forms it touches. As a raw and natural resource, the exposed fibres hold no secrets. With the end of its life in mind, the garment is impermanent and ready to return to the earth which it came from. What are now sewn artifacts will transform to be sown seeds, creating new life as sprouting milkweed rhizomes.
Through studying the common milkweed and its interspecies relations in situ and as a harvested material ex situ, Ephemeral Embraces manifests as a project about sustainable material practices and meaningful human sensorial experiences. It provides new opportunities to develop deep connections with the Earth and its fruiting gifts. Restoring plant knowledge becomes an essential step to achieve reciprocal relationships with the land.
“Reciprocal relationships with the land begins with a restoration of plant knowledge.”
Defense Presentation
The thesis defence took place on April 11, 2023, in the Design at Riverside Gallery in Cambridge. The space was designed as an exhibition and divided into three sections: a final designed garment with a video projection, a presentation projection in the center, and milkweed plant and fibre studies. A black curtain backdrop was used to create a cinematic-like atmosphere, emphasizing the garment and projection. The video projected onto the garment featured hundreds of thousands of monarch butterflies roosting in their overwintering sites in Mexico, juxtaposed with harvested milkweed fibres. This highlighted the importance of considering all species involved when working with organic materials. The garment’s softness and translucency invited audience members to touch and wear the garment, engaging directly with the warm embrace of the fibres.
Thesis co-supervised by Assoc. Prof. David Correa and Assoc. Prof. Jane Mah Hutton
Photography: Shabaan Khokhar and Safaa Alnabelseya
Exhibition design: Hania Shehab and Safaa Alnabelseya
Research and design: Safaa Alnabelseya